When We Don’t Understand God

A young man twenty-three years old died this week. Another person lost a baby. A wife catches her husband who has decided to surf pornographic images. A computer crashes. Car accident. Tough circumstances. When we go through these times, we often agree we don’t understand God.

We ask, “Why?” or “Why me?” or “Why her?” or any of another thousand questions.

In these moments, we may turn to prayer. Inevitably, as we pray, we can drift toward the thought of “Why?” even as we ask for God’s will to be done.

How do we respond when we don’t understand God?

 

Why God?

The Apostles James and Peter

In Acts 12, the strangest things happens to the Apostles James and Peter. I’ll explain the story more later, but for now let me just highlight it with four simple verses.

Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword. And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. (Acts 12:1-3)

Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “Arise quickly!” And his chains fell off his hands. (Acts 12:7)

In the first two verses, we read that James gets arrested by King Herod. The king cuts his head off.

In the next two verses, we read that Peter gets arrested by King Herod. God sends an angel and gets Peter released from prison before his imminent death the next morning.

Why?

 

What it was NOT.

Remember all the passages that describe the relationship Jesus had with Peter, James, and John? They were running buddies together. As an analogy, if Jesus were a President, then all three of these guys would be Vice Presidents. They went with Jesus to the Mount of Transfiguration, were with him on the Sea of Galilee, were among the first to be called out to follow Jesus, and were faithful followers. Yes, Peter preached at Pentecost; however, Peter also denied Jesus. John claimed to be the disciple that Jesus loved. James is more of a silent partner among these three; however, he is no less important.

The Bible does not catalog any special sins from James. Peter, of course, denies Jesus. He cuts the servant’s ear off. All three of them in the Garden of Gethsemane went to sleep when Jesus asked them to pray.

James’ death was not for lack of prayer or concern of the church. In this text, it describes the church’s prayer for Peter. However, we would be silly to believe the church was not praying for James as well.

So, what was it? Why would God allow Peter to live and James to die?

 

What it was.

God allowed it in His plan. God allowed Herod to kill one but the other live. There is not another answer.

Yet, you possibly can be less-than-satisfied with this answer. Possibly you want more, a better reason, or some other explanation. However, we do not have one.

In God’s plan, James died, Peter lived but was later crucified upside down, and John died on the Isle of Patmos of old age.

Each of them lived as part of God’s larger plan for the world. The psalmist tells us that God had their days numbered before they ever lived the first one. Our days are written in God’s book – the first and the last, before we ever live any of them (Psalm 139:16).

Our days are written in God's book – the first and the last, before we ever live any of them (Psalm 139:16). Click To Tweet

 

How do we respond when we don’t understand God?

How do we respond then when we do not understand God? What should we think and do?

 

1. Be grateful God is active.

We begin with gratitude that God is active in our lives. He does not leave us, forsake us, or fall asleep on us. Instead, God actively rules. He is sovereign of the universe, and He works out His sovereignty according to His providence. God providentially protects us – every day that God has written in His book, we will live and make it. When we reach our last, our life will end.

Between our first and last day, God is active in our lives.

 

2. Trust God in our pressure – even when it is hard.

As we wrote above, life is full of mystery. We do not know why one thing happens to one and another thing happens to another. God knows.

God only acts according to His character. As God, He loves us, cares for us, provides for us, and helps us. God never tempts us to do evil.

God only acts according to His character. As God, He loves us, cares for us, provides for us, and helps us. God never tempts us to do evil. Click To Tweet

He has saved us and is preparing us for heaven. In the process, His plan includes pressure-filled circumstances as part of that overall preparation (cf., James 1:2-5; 13-18). We become firstfruits of His new creation, and we are His workmanship (cf., Eph 2:10).

One thing is for sure – the outcome of your pressure-filled circumstances does not represent whether or not you trusted God. No doubt, James had as much faith as Peter. They knew Jesus, loved Him, and trusted Him equally. They had both given their lives to following Him. Yet, God’s plan for one was not the same as it was for the other.

 

3. Remember, we don’t know what God knows.

I mentioned this in an earlier article this week; however, it is worth saying again.

Have you ever heard of the statement, “You can’t see the forest for the trees”? Most likely you have. It means that when you are in the forest or next to it, the trees of the forest block your view of the larger forest. In tough circumstances, your perspective prohibits you from seeing God’s perspective. You do not know what God knows. You simply cannot see what God sees (cf., Eccl 1:13-15; 3:1-13).

We must rest in God’s care because He can see the forest. He does have the big picture.

I followed this advice with the following statement earlier this week as well:

Don’t question in the dark what you saw clearly in the light. What you believed and understood before your time of trouble, go back there.

We must remember what we knew before we were under the severe pressure.

Don’t question in the dark what you saw clearly in the light. What you believed and understood before your time of trouble, go back there. Click To Tweet

 

4. Pray for God’s Will to be done.

In the pressure, pray for God’s will to be done in the situation, with you, with others, and that God would receive the glory. Related to our prayer, we might highlight the following steps:

• We pray and ask for God’s will to be done.
• We express our desire; then we await God’s will to be shown.
• Our prayer demonstrates our commitment, trust, relationship, and dependence upon God.
• We pray in submission to God – trusting His sovereign and providential plan.
• We also ask God to help strengthen us as we face our own possible weaknesses and temptations in the midst of this struggle.

 

5. Submit, Receive, Learn, and Love

Our goal should be to submit to God’s plan, receive what He gives to us, learn as we go through the process, and love God as He first loved us and as His love through Christ motivates us.

I think of my grandson, Amari. He is just seven months old. We move his hands, keep him from touching certain things, lay him down when he may want to be up, keep him from putting things in his mouth, give him baths, change him, feed him certain food and not feed him other food, and on and on. We do all of these things as caring, loving, responsible caretakers – all of us working for his beneficial end. Each of us do these things even when he does not understand or necessarily want us to do so.

Let’s take this limited analogy and apply it to God. If it is true for us with an infant, how much more true can it be for us with God, our Father?

When I am holding Amari, sometimes I may say something like, “Sweet boy, trust me. You don’t need that.” Or, “Sweet boy, you need to go to sleep. All these things going on are interesting, but trust Grandad, you need to close those eyes and rest.”

I am asking him to trust me. Why? Because even though I know he does not understand, I want him to trust me, my character, my love, and my care.

Oh friends, do you understand how much this is like our Heavenly Father?

 

6. God is not angry with your sin or your struggle.

If you are angry, sinning, and struggling, here’s some good news: God is not angry with you.

God poured all of His anger toward you onto Jesus when He was dying on the cross. All of God’s wrath for you was poured out on Jesus.

Can you grieve God? Of course. He does not want to see you struggle. However, He will not get angry and respond out of anger toward you. Instead, He is always willing to forgive your sins, draw you close to Himself, and strengthen you (cf., 1 John 1:9; 1 Pet 5:6-7; James 4:1-10).

God poured all of His anger toward you onto Jesus when He was dying on the cross. All of God's wrath for you was poured out on Jesus. Click To Tweet

 

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